This place has been around for a very very long time. In fact, when it was first opened by taiwanese, it was so good that all the chains quickly sprawled up everywhere and there's even one downtown on bloor and bathurst. Alas, I don't know what the deal is anymore with regards to all these chains that could be now franchises or simply sold, but now backyard garden seems to be run by people from china and their chef has definitely changed.
Their service is awesome.
The staple food items like water cooked beef and fish are still there, among a couple of other spicy offal items and the price is decent. We ordered the water cooked fish, szechuan pepper chili cabbage, stir fried pork with peppers, and cold appetizer of pig stomach. They were all pretty good, but not as good as it used to be so i was a bit disappointed. Still one of the better szechuan joints in the GTA i believe.